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Since the Brexit Referendum vote and the American General Election there has been a marked increase in racist name calling in many schools. I could understand the increase in racist name calling – children are often unkind to each other and policies about immigration on both sides of the debate were exaggerated and this presumably taught the parents and the children that racism is OK because the side who were portrayed (wrongly in my view) as racists won.

There has also been an increase in homophobic name calling since Brexit and the US election. Presumably the same principle applies – the person who was claimed to be homophobic and sexist won, and thus parents and children were taught that homophobic name calling is OK because Mr Trump won.

Those who seek to lead us teach us and many listen to their teachings and adopt their ideas. People often pick up not the ideas of the politicians but the false versions of those ideas promulgated by that politician’s opponent.

I do not believe that 31 million Americans who voted for Mr Trump belong in a basket of deplorables, any more than I believe that 52% of the UK’s populations are racists. The vast majority of Americans and of the British are decent principled people, however they may have voted.